The Promised Revealed
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Last week we celebrated Easter, or as I like to call it, Resurrection Day. Either way you look at it, this day is the great climax in redemptive history. It is the apex of the work of Christ. He came to die for us. He rose triumphantly over death. But what happened after this momentous event? How is it that we can stay on this “high” note full of rejoicing? How do we carry the joy of Easter all year long? Well, this morning, my desire is to see each one of us continue in this celebration all year long with endless praise. But, how do we do that? What does the Bible tell us about how to continue on in celebratory praise of Christ and His great work? What causes the Psalmist to say, “Let the holy ones exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their beds. Let the exaltations of God be in their throats” (Ps. 150.5-6). I want to do this, by looking at what I have titled “The Promise Revealed.” We will see this by looking at the Promise Revealed, who will 1. Teach us all things (Jn. 14.26), 2. He is given for our advantage (Jn. 16.7), and 3. He will guide us into all truth (Jn. 16.13). The Holy Spirit was promised on numerous occasions by our Lord. We see this in John chapters 14 and 16, and in Luke 24. Luke’s account is the most clear about the events after Jesus’ resurrection regarding the promise of the Holy Spirit. Verse 49 of chapter 24 reads, “And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you, but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” This is reiterated by Luke in Acts 1:4 which shows us the significance of this event that it was repeated. Now, it should come to no surprise to you that we had Acts 2:1-4 read as the Scripture reading today. We know that event and the ones after to be a fulfillment of the promise Jesus made that would come upon the disciples. You might be asking, well this is great, but what does this have to do with me? I was not present during the times of the apostles. I did not have the experience of the Holy Spirit come upon me as a fire in Acts 2:3. Although these things are true, we do believe that all of Scripture is relevant to our lives as 2 Timothy 3:16 tells that “All Scripture is God-breathed.” Therefore, what the Bible tells us of the Holy Spirit being the promise of Christ and the One who moves man to do the will of God, we must take seriously the impact of the Holy Spirit in our lives. With that let us see how He does that.
He will Teach us all things (Jn. 14.26)
He will Teach us all things (Jn. 14.26)
Let us begin by looking at John 14. We are going to read verses 23-27. We see one of the purposes for the Holy Spirit’s ministry and that is to teach believers all things. What are these “things” that will be taught that Jesus is referring to here? Let’s consider what the apostle Paul had to say regarding this. 1 Corinthians 2 is helpful for us as we look into our Christian lives and see the work of the Holy Spirit among us. Paul was completley dependent on the Holy Spirit for the means to know God. He says in 1 Corinthians 2:9-13, “But just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” But to us God revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the depths of a man except the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the depths of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the depths graciously given to us by God, of which depths we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual depths with spiritual words.” According to these verses, it is the Holy Spirit of God that gives us the understanding (to a limited degree) to know some of the deeper things of God. As we all know, we are unable to know God exhaustively and completely. However, in these verses we see the work of the Holy Spirit upon the apostle Paul and that is through teachability. The Spirit taught Paul in spiritual wisdom. The Holy Spirit does the same thing for us today. He is the One who teaches us the things of God that the Father wants us to know about Himself. He helps us to have a clearer understanding of who Jesus the Son is and all of the work that He has done. Paul tells us in verse 12 the purpose for why the Spirit was given and that is so that we may “know the depths graciously given to us by God.” The Spirit teaches us all things that are given to us by God. The apostle John also spoke on the teaching power of the Holy Spirit. He writes in his second letter, chapter 2, verse 27, “And as for you, the anointing whom you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as He has taught you, abide in Him.” Do you see the similarity here? John is a little more personal here. He tells us of the abiding of the Holy Spirit within every, single believer in Christ. The Holy Spirit is the only sufficient teacher. John tells us that in verse 27. There is no one else in heaven or on earth that is suitable to teach us about the things of God. There is no angel, there is no medium, and there is no psychic who comes close to teaching us things about God, much less interpreting dreams and other things that they ‘claim’ to do. All that the Spirit teaches us is absolutely true (we will look into that later). There is no shortage of passages that help give us insight into the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit leads us to a deeper and deeper understanding of who God is. He grows us from infancy to maturity. Hear Hebrews 5.13-14, “For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern both good and evil.” Here, those whom the author writes to have become dull of hearing, and have become stagnant in their faith. Jesus Christ redeems the person and the Spirit continues to teach the believer. We see that even through the stagnancy of faith. So, believer, are you going through a stale period in your faith? Are you struggling to be motivated to read the Word? May you be reminded now, that the Holy Spirit that resides within you is able to bring you out of the stagnancy that you experience, He is able to reignite you to become a teachable vessel, pray to the Lord, seek His wisdom, and He will change you. As article 5 of the BFC Articles of Faith says of the Holy Spirit, “He, the divine Comforter, Intercessor, and Advocate, empower the believer for service.”
He is given to us for our Advantage (Jn. 16.7)
He is given to us for our Advantage (Jn. 16.7)
Turn over to John 16 and let’s read verses 5-11. Notice first the condition. Jesus says that if He does not go away, that the Holy Spirit will not come. Therefore, the advantage that is from Jesus for us, cannot be given unless He ascends to the Father’s right hand. Again, we see this fulfilled in Acts 2. Now, let’s look a little further into this condition. This condition is, ultimately, the comfort that the disciples needed. In chapter 16, the disciples are filled with sorrow. Why? Because persecution was coming for the believers of the day. They were going to need divine comfort and reassurance when persecution was to come in the near future. They were also full of sorrow because Christ was going to be leaving them and they did not know what that meant. They were sad to think that Christ would depart, for as Peter confesses in Matthew 19.27 “Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?”” If Christ were to leave them, they would have no where to go. We see that evident in what the disciples do after Jesus dies on the cross. What do we read in John 21.1-3? “After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way. Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will also come with you.” They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing.” Clearly, we see that the Holy Spirit is given to us as the means to fill the gap from Christ’s ascencion back in the apostolic era. This is also true for us today. The Holy Spirit (also known as the Advocate) is given so that we can take the message of the cross and effectively spread it to all the world. This is to our advantage. How many times do we reflect after sharing the gospel with someone, the words and clarity in which we spoke? Do we take the credit for this? Of course not! The credit and the glory is to be to the Holy Spirit who speaks on behalf of the Father and the Son and does so with unworthy humans who are identified in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, this question may arise, why could not Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit of God be on earth at the same time? Well, in one sense they are both fully aware of the world’s affairs. There is not one thing that occurs on this planet that neither of them are unaware of, the same is true of the Father. There is nothing that escapes their perview. In another sense, we believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. So, as we consider this question, can any human being be everywhere all the time? Well, the obvious answer is no. This is true of Jesus as well. During his earthly ministry, he moved from town to town. Luke 4.30 says, “But passing through their midst, He went on His way.” Even during the times when He vanished from people’s sight, He moved to another physical, literal place on earth as in Luke 24.31 when he is on the road to Emmaus, “Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. And He vanished from their sight.” But, what about Jesus’ deity. Well, yes, Jesus was divine. The miracles that He performed and the wisdom that He had on earth, attested to His divinity. Multiple times, the disciples and crowds were amazed at the work of Jesus (Matt. 8.27, 15.30-31; Mark 1.27, 6.51, 7.37). Yes, Jesus is, clearly fully, God and fully man and they work perfectly with each other.
He will guide us into all truth (Jn. 16.13)
He will guide us into all truth (Jn. 16.13)
As we continue our celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, we move into the final point this morning. Turn to John 16 and we are going to read verses 12-15. As we consider these verses I want us to see directly from the text that the Advocate, guides us into the truth. The presumption, here, is that there is absolute truth. There is not a half truth or a particular truth that is good for some people. What is implied here is that there is truth and it is found in God and God alone. This week, I had followed a string of arguments stemming from a “former Christian”. He is very well versed in the scripture and is a graduate of Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia. Anyway, I say all this to say that in his deconstruction from Christianity, his main area of disbelief was in the truth. He said that he could not believe the Yahweh God of the Old Testament and that the Bible contradicted itself over and over again. What we are told crystal clearly over and over again, is that there is truth and it is found in the Word of God (Rom. 3.4)! And the Holy Spirit is promised to lead us into all the truth that Jesus spoke of that has been fulfilled and all of the truth that Jesus spoke that has yet to be fulfilled. The truth of Easter is that Christ died, was buried, and rose bodily from the dead on the third day. That truth does not only apply to Good Friday and Easter. It applies to every, single, day of our lives! This truth applies to the unbeliever as he will have to stand before God at the judgment of his very life in accordance with this truth. This truth applies to the believer who is washed in the precious blood of Christ. And this truth is spear-headed by the Holy Spirit. Notice, that Jesus says that “He (the Holy Spirit) does not speak from Himself, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come” (Jn. 16.13). That which the Holy Spirit utters is in unison with the Father and the Son. He does not speak on His own accord. As we know this is also true of the Son. This is not exclusive to the Spirit. For John 12.49-50 says, ““For I did not speak from Myself, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. “And I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”” Therefore, we see the Triune God at work in leading believers into all the truth, with the Holy Spirit being the primary means for the New Testament church.
Conclusion
Conclusion
This morning we have seen that the Easter story does not end with Christ rising from the grave and ascending to the right hand of the Father. But the story continues in the giving of the Holy Spirit. Do you see the internal work of the Holy Spirit in your life? Does the way that you think reflect the work of the Holy Spirit? What are your affections geared toward? Are they earthly or spiritual? Are you a teachable vessel, led by the Holy Spirit? Are you invigoraged by the Word of God and do you hunger for it? As we continue to celebrate our Lord Jesus and His redemptive work on the cross, may the Holy Spirit continue the work within us as moldable people full of the Spirit, so that we may press on as ambassadors of Christ!
Benediction
Benediction
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Amen.